Honduras' next president blasts party for 'betrayal' in Congress


FILE PHOTO: Honduras' president-elect Xiomara Castro receives her presidential credentials during a ceremony, in Tegucigalpa

Fri, January 21, 2022,
By Gustavo Palencia

TEGUCIGALPA (Reuters) -Honduran president-elect Xiomara Castro on Friday accused some of her party's lawmakers of "betrayal" after they broke a pact with a key ally, potentially putting in jeopardy Castro's ability to pass a sweeping agenda through Congress.

Lawmakers from Castro's leftist Liberty and Refoundation Party (Libre) and two other parties appointed a member of their caucus as president of Congress, breaking an agreement to appoint a lawmaker from the Partido Salvador de Honduras (PSH), an ally that helped Castro claim victory.

The lawmakers said the appointment was aimed at protecting Castro's incoming government. But she threatened to block the new head of Congress from being sworn in on Jan. 27, the day she takes office.

"The betrayal was done!" Castro wrote on Twitter. "I don't need traitors to protect me."

She said her party had expelled the 18 lawmakers who had supported the decision to go against naming a PSH member to the top post of Congress.

Castro also called for Libre members from around the country to converge in the capital Tegucigalpa for a vigil from Saturday night through early Sunday in what she called an act to "repudiate the attempted kidnapping of the legislative power."

Under Honduran law, lawmakers need a majority plus one to appoint the directors of the chamber or have the power to reform or repeal laws. Libre and its allies won 60 of the 128 seats in the single-house Congress.

Castro promised ally PSH leadership of Congress after its candidate, Salvador Nasralla, stepped down from the race and pledged support to Castro, the wife of former President Manuel Zelaya, who was ousted in a coup in 2009.

Nasralla described Friday's action as "another coup like in 2009" against Hondurans who voted for Castro with the expectation that PSH would lead Congress.

Going against the deal with PSH will likely impact Castro's ability to prevail in Congress, analysts said.

"Undoubtedly, although the dissident deputies say they support her campaign promises, they weaken their ability to fulfill those that have to go through Congress," said Eugenio Sosa, a professor at Honduras' National Autonomous University.

(Reporting by Gustavo Palencia, Writing by Daina Beth Solomon; Editing by Bill Berkrot)

Portuguese Socialists' lead for Jan. 30 election narrows, poll shows

FILE PHOTO: Portugal's Prime Minister Antonio Costa speaks during a news conference to announce the new measures amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, at Ajuda Palace in Lisbon

Fri, January 21, 2022, 
By Sergio Goncalves

LISBON (Reuters) - Portugal's centre-left ruling Socialists lost ground in an opinion poll published on Friday that left it with the narrowest lead in all recent surveys, keeping the ballot wide open just 10 days before a snap general election.

Prime Minister Antonio Costa's party dropped to 37% support, according to the survey by Catolica pollsters, from 39% in the same poll a week ago, while their main rivals, the centre-right Social Democrats, rose to 33% from 30%.

It leaves the Socialist Party further away from a parliamentary majority, which under the proportional representation system equates to between 42% and 45% of the vote.

In October, Costa's two former allies - the Communists and Left Bloc - sided with right-wing parties to reject the minority government's budget bill, triggering the snap election set for Jan. 30.

Analysts say the election alone might not solve Portugal's political impasse as no party or known alliance is likely to win a working majority.

The Left Bloc lost one percentage point, polling at 5%, the same level of support as for the Communists.

Costa has said a new alliance with the two former partners is no longer possible, and signalled he might seek support from smaller parties such as the People-Animals-Nature (PAN). Catolica's poll gave them just 2% support, down from 3% a week ago.

The far-right party Chega would become the third-largest force in parliament, polling at 6%.

The share of voting intentions for the Liberal Initiative party rose one percentage point to 5%, while the right-wing CDS-PP and the eco-Socialist Livre could win 2% apiece, both unchanged.

The margin of error in the Catolica University poll, which surveyed 1,256 people on Jan. 12-18, was 2.6%.

(Reporting by Sergio Goncalves; editing by Andrei Khalip, William Maclean)

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene sold up to $15,000 worth of Activision Blizzard stock on the day Microsoft announced plans to buy the video game company



Azmi Haroun,Dave Levinthal
Fri, January 21, 2022

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA).Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene filed a stock disclosure that she sold up to $15,000 worth of Activision stock on January 18.

Microsoft's announced plans to acquire video-game giant Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion on the same day.

Activision's stock soared that day, and Greene reported more than $200 in capital gains from the sale.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene filed a stock disclosure indicating she sold up to $15,000 worth of Activision Blizzard stock on January 18 — the day news broke of plans for the video game company to be purchased by Microsoft.

Greene reported more than $200 in capital gains on the sale on the disclosure form, which she filed with Thursday with the Clerk of the House of Representatives. It was not immediately clear how much Greene — a freshman Republican from Georgia and one of Congress' most polarizing members — pocketed from the sale.

A stock trade disclosure from Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican of GeorgiaUS House of Representatives

On Tuesday, Microsoft announced plans to acquire video-game giant Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion. If the deal is greenlit, it will be the largest-ever deal in the tech industry. On the same day, Activision's price soared.

There is no indication that Greene violated the STOCK Act by making this trade.

Greene ranks among Congress' most active stock traders. She was the first member of Congress to invest in Donald Trump's social media company, TRUTH social, and has had no problem investing in companies that espouse social views that clash with her own, such as those on Black Lives Matter.

Greene's office could not be reached for immediate comment on the recent sale of Activision Blizzard stock. In September, Greene told Insider, "I have an independent investment advisor that has full discretionary authority on my accounts. I do not direct any trades."

Greene's stock sale comes in the background of Insider's new investigative reporting project, "Conflicted Congress," which chronicled the myriad ways members of the US House and Senate have eviscerated their own ethical standards, avoided consequences, and blinded Americans to the many moments when lawmakers' personal finances clash with their public duties.

The project identified 54 members of Congress who've failed to properly report their financial trades as mandated by the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act of 2012, also known as the STOCK Act.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat who in December said lawmakers should be allowed to trade individual stocks, reversed course this month, saying she was now open to a stock trading ban for lawmakers.

"If members want to do that, I'm okay with that," Pelosi told reporters on Thursday.

Microsoft was the No. 2 most popular stock among members of Congress, according to an Insider analysis of congressional financial records. As part of Insider's "Conflicted Congress" project, Greene received a "solid" rating on the strength of her disclosing her various stock trades on time.

Only 10 members of Congress have placed their assets in a "qualified blind trust" — a formal, congressionally approved financial vehicle independently managed by a trustee and designed to prevent conflicts of interest. Greene is not among them.

Read the original article on Business Insider

Chile's president-elect unveils young, woman-majority cabinet


Chile's president-elect Gabriel Boric has announced a young, diverse and woman-majority cabinet (AFP/Javier TORRES)


Fri, January 21, 2022

Chile's leftist president-elect Gabriel Boric, whose victory at the polls last month unsettled the markets, on Friday named the country's Central Bank governor as his finance minister in a young, diverse and woman-majority cabinet.

Mario Marcel, an independent politician and former member of the Socialist Party, with which he maintains strong ties, had held various roles under center-left governments from 1990 to 2008.

Now 62, he was appointed Reserve Bank governor by Socialist former president Michelle Bachelet for a five-year term that started in late 2016 and continued under her center-right successor Sebastian Pinera.

Marcel was the favorite of the markets, which view his appointment as a sign of moderation in the economic reforms Boric had vowed to implement.

Boric, painted by his detractors as a "communist," succeeded in mobilizing record turnout in the December 19 vote, and garnered nearly 56 percent of votes cast, compared to 44 percent for ultra-conservative Jose Antonio Kast.

In a leftist coalition that includes Chile's Communist Party, Boric campaigned on promises of creating a "welfare state," increasing taxes and social spending.

Kast, in turn, had pledged to protect the neo-liberal economic model left behind by dictator Augusto Pinochet -- credited with Chile's relative wealth but blamed for a yawning gap between rich and poor.

Investors reacted nervously to Boric's victory, with the SP IPSA index closing 6.18 percent down the day after the election, while the Chilean peso ceded 3.4 percent to the US dollar to reach an historic rate of 876.

- Increasing taxes -

Marcel will take over amid expectations of an economic slowdown after growth of about 12 percent in 2021 due in large part to government grants to help with the coronavirus fallout, and individual withdrawals from private pension funds.

Chile's central bank has been increasing interest rates to halt inflation, and grants will stop, too.

Marcel will also have the tough task of implementing Boric's plan to increase taxes to fund social projects.

Analyst Marcelo Mella of the University of Santiago said choosing Marcel was a nod to the markets, as he "has credibility on the right and in the private sector."

This was a good starting point, Mella added, "for making the very difficult decisions the president will have to make this year."

- 14 women -

With a 24-member cabinet of whom a third are independents, Boric is seeking to expand the reach of his leftwing political coalition in a Congress divided near 50-50 between the left and right.

"The general outlook is a positive one in terms of breaking down the walls the president needs to break for a majority project with parliamentary backing," said Mella.

Fourteen members of the new team are women.

For interior minister, Boric chose Izkia Siches, 35, a surgeon who in 2017 became the first female president of the Medical College, a professional association of physicians.

Siches, who led Boric's presidential campaign, will also be Chile's first female interior minister.

The team also includes former student leaders and lawmakers Giorgio Jackson and Communist Camila Vallejo, who together with Boric led protests in 2011 for free schooling.

Maya Fernandez -- the granddaughter of Marxist former president Salvador Allende who died in the 1973 coup d'etat led by Pinochet -- will be defense minister.

The new foreign minister will be 53-year-old lawyer Antonia Urrejola, former president of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights

"We are accompanied in this team of ministers by people of diverse backgrounds and training, a diverse cabinet," said Boric as he unveiled his team.

The average age is 49. The youngest, at 32, is new Women's Affairs Minister Antonia Orellana. Seven of the cabinet members are in their 30s.

Boric, elected at 35, will be Chile's youngest-ever president and one of the youngest in world history.

He will be sworn in on March 11.

On Friday, Boric named his priorities: managing the coronavirus pandemic, encouraging economic growth with social inclusion and ensuring the success of the process to write a new constitution to replace the Pinochet-era document still in place.

pa/ll/mlr/to

Chile's Boric unveils centrist Cabinet as markets breath sigh of relief

Chilean President-elect Gabriel Boric speaks during the presentation of his first cabinet in Santiago

Fri, January 21, 2022, 
By Fabian Cambero and Natalia A. Ramos Miranda

SANTIAGO (Reuters) -Chile's leftist President-elect Gabriel Boric unveiled his Cabinet on Friday, throwing markets and investors a bone by picking current central bank head Mario Marcel to be the Andean country's finance minister.

Boric also named Izkia Siches, a prominent doctor and part of his campaign team, as the interior minister and his deputy, as well as lawmaker Marcela Hernando for the key role of mining minister, where copper and lithium development will be in focus.


The balanced make-up of the incoming government suggests Boric, a 35-year-old lawmaker and former student protest leader, may look to push gradual reforms rather than abrupt changes some had feared in the world's top copper producing nation.

"Naming Mario Marcel as finance minister is a very good sign of economic stability, seen positively by markets," said Miguel Angel Lopez, a public affairs professor at the University of Chile, adding it was a mix of coalition allies and technocrats.

"It's all linked to a much more centrist, more pragmatic shift in terms of what Boric wants to do in his government."

The new government, which will take office on March 11, was made up of members of parties across the political spectrum, reflecting a fragmented and diverse Congress. Women will lead more than half of the ministries.

Boric pledged during the election campaign to enact major reforms to Chile's market-led economic model, rattling investors, though he has moderated his tone since, boosting Chile's markets and currency.

The peso currency strengthened early on Friday to under 800 per dollar for the first time since November. A select index of Chilean equities also rose more than 2%.

'GREAT REFORMS'

Boric during the campaign pledged to "bury" Chile's market-orientated model, which has driven growth in the South American country in recent decades but has also deepened inequality, triggering months of social protests at the end of 2019.

He has promised to reform the private pension and health systems and raise taxes to finance greater social spending.

"This Cabinet's mission is to lay the foundations for the great reforms that we have proposed in our program," Boric said after unveiling his ministers, adding that it would look to drive economic growth while cutting out "structural inequalities."

"We are talking about sustainable growth accompanied by a fair redistribution of wealth," he said.

Chile, a global front-runner in the roll-out of COVID-19 vaccines, ended last year as the world's best-performing economy, buoyed by large state spending and several rounds of private pensions withdrawals to ease the impact of the pandemic.

Boric will, however, have to contend with signs of an overheating economy and inflation, as well as a fragmented Congress, which analysts say will force him to seek consensus with more centrist sectors.

"One of Boric's biggest challenges will be cooling down the economy and retaining popular support," Oxford Economics said in a report, adding that the young leader would face pressure to increase social spending while meeting tighter budget targets.

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Chilean peso has rallied from record low https://tmsnrt.rs/3rEpA0i

Chilean peso has rallied from record low (Interactive) https://tmsnrt.rs/3qL0Uny

Latin America bond yield spreads https://tmsnrt.rs/3ryvBvG

Latin America bond yield spreads (Interactive) https://tmsnrt.rs/3KumAMH

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(Reporting by Fabián Andrés Cambero and Natalia Ramos; Editing by Sandra Maler, Chizu Nomiyama and Paul Simao)

Peru: 21 beaches polluted by spill linked to Tonga eruption

January 21, 2022 (Mainichi Japan)

A worker, dressed in a protective suit, cleans Conchitas Beach contaminated by an oil spill, in Ancon, Peru, on Jan. 20, 2022. (AP Photo/Martin Mejia)

LIMA, Peru (AP) -- Peru declared an environmental emergency on Thursday after announcing that 21 beaches on the Pacific coast were contaminated by an oil spill at a refinery run by Spain-based Repsol, following surging waves caused by the eruption of an underwater volcano near Tonga.

President Pedro Castillo said a committee will be formed to propose ways of dealing with the crisis, in keeping with national policies aimed at protecting the environment.

Prime Minister Mirtha Vasquez said Repsol has promised to deliver a cleaning schedule, to incorporate local fishermen in the cleanup on beaches and to deliver food baskets to affected families.

Vasquez said the United Nations will provide a team of experts to help Peru deal with the oil spill. People are barred for now from going to the 21 polluted beaches because of health concerns.

Peruvian authorities say an Italian-flagged ship spilled 6,000 barrels in the Pacific on Saturday in front of the La Pampilla refinery. In recent days, environmental activists have collected oil-stained or dead seabirds.

Repsol said Peruvian authorities had not provided a tsunami warning and that the ship was continuing to unload oil to the refinery when the waves hit.

Two women in Peru drowned after being swept away by strong waves following the Tonga eruption.

Oil clean-up crews replace bathers on Peru beaches

AFP Ancon, Peru
Published: 21 Jan 2022, 2

Floating barriers to protect the beaches from drifting oil are seen at the resort town of Ancon, Peru, on 21 January, 2022AFP

At Miramar Beach in Peru's popular resort of Ancon, there are no bathers despite the summer heat. Instead, it teems with workers in coveralls cleaning up an oil spill.

Almost a million liters (264,000 gallons) of crude spilled into the sea on Saturday when a tanker was hit by waves while offloading at La Pampilla refinery in Ventanilla, 30 kilometres (19 miles) north of Lima.

Its owner, Spanish oil company Repsol, attributed the accident to the swell caused by the volcanic eruption in Tonga, thousands of miles away.

"Oil reaches the beach during high tide at night... and deposits the oil on the shore," Martin Martinez of the NGO AMAAC Peru, supervising the cleanup, told AFP.

"We take advantage to remove it from the sea, that and the saturated sand," he said.

The spill has dealt a blow to tourism in the popular resort, and to businesses who make most of their money in the summer season.

"There were many people until Sunday; the stain arrived on Monday, and since then, no one is swimming anymore," said 48-year-old Richard Gutierrez, who has a food and soda stand on Miramar beach.

A man picks up an oil-soaked dead Cormoran from the sea on the resort town of Ancon, Peru, on 21 January, 2022AFP

"We cannot sell anything, there are no vacationers, there is no one" apart from about 100 cleanup workers -- soldiers, Repsol hired hands and volunteers -- removing the polluted sand with spades to be taken to a toxic waste treatment facility.
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'Ecological disaster'

Peru's government has declared the spill of some 6,000 barrels of oil an "ecological disaster" and has demanded compensation from Repsol.

The company denies responsibility, saying maritime authorities had issued no warning of freak waves after the Tonga eruption.

The task, which began Tuesday, is an arduous one.

The workers deposit the polluted sand onto blue tarps, which are dragged to a pile further inland, awaiting removal to another site.

Work begins at 8:00 am and finishes at 6:00 pm, with a 30-minute break for lunch.

No one knows how long it will take to clean up the affected stretch of coastline, but in Miramar, it is estimated it will last at least two weeks.

The environment ministry said 174 hectares -- equivalent to 270 football fields -- of coast were affected, and some 118 hectares at sea.

Marine currents have dispersed the oil all the way to the coast of Chancay district, more than 40 kilometers from where the spill occurred.

The health ministry has identified 21 affected beaches and warned bathers to stay away.

The spill has also affected hundreds of artisanal fishermen who operate on the central Peruvian coast.

They rely on catches of sole, lorna drum and Peruvian grunt -- fish commonly used in the local delicacy ceviche, a marinated raw fish dish Peru is famous for.

Traditional fishermen in despair over Peru oil spill


By AFP
Published January 20, 2022

Hundreds of traditional fisherman living just outside the Peruvian capital fear their livelihoods are ruined following an oil spill caused by a volcanic eruption thousands of miles away.

Authorities called the spill, caused by an eruption on the other side of the Pacific near Tonga, the worst ecological disaster in Lima in recent times.

Traditional fisherman in Ventanilla, a district to the north of Lima’s port in Callao, on Wednesday protested outside the gates of the Pampilla Refinery owned by Spanish energy giant Repsol, demanding compensation for the spill that occurred as freak waves hit a tanker during offloading on Saturday.

“How will we live now? That’s our worry,” Miguel Angell Nunez, who led the protest, told AFP.

“We’ve lost our source of work and we don’t know when this will end.

“We want them to recognize the damage. The spill was caused by (Repsol’s) negligence.”

It is an area teeming with sole, lorna drum and Peruvian grunt, commonly used in the local delicacy ceviche, a marinated raw fish dish that Peru is famous for.

Traditional fishermen use small scale, low technology, low capital practices, mostly from the beach or rocks.

The few that own small boats only travel short distances along the shoreline.

– ‘Catastrophe’ –

The Ventanilla spill sent 6,000 barrels of oil into the sea.

The environment ministry said 174 hectares — equivalent to 270 football fields — of sea, beaches and natural reserves were affected.

The attorney general’s office said the spill had “put at risk flora and fauna in two protected areas.”

Authorities pulled dead fish and birds covered in oil out of the sea, and had to seal off three beaches, meaning hundreds of fishermen had nowhere to go to work.

Refinery officials said they had erected “containment barriers that cover all of the affected zones and brigades with specialist sea and land teams have been deployed.”

But fishermen, some of whom live hand to mouth, fear that they could be prevented from working for years.

Around 1,500 traditional fisherman work in the area, usually earning between 50 and 120 soles ($12-$30) a day from their catch.

“This catastrophe won’t last one or four months. It will last years,” fisherman Roberto Carlos Espinoza told AFP.

“Today we don’t have work, what are we going to do?”

Espinoza blames Repsol for “lacking a contingency plan” for the damage to flora and fauna.

The spill has spread to beaches in neighboring districts where authorities have found dead sea lions and penguins.

The health ministry said 21 beaches have been affected and warned bathers not to visit them.

– ‘Tough and toxic work’ –

Repsol work teams wearing white suits, boots and gloves were removing oil from beaches and crags on the Cavero beach in Ventanilla on Wednesday.

Workers use dustpans, shovels and long sponges to soak up the oil that cloaks the beach and gives off a pungent stench, while the navy guards the area.

Toiling in the summer sun, they tip the collected oil into barrels and plastic bags.

“It’s not easy to work with this (oil) but unfortunately we have to work,” said Giancarlo Briseno.

“The work is tough, quite toxic and burns your face,” added Pedro Guzman.

Former environment minister Fabiola Munoz said it would take two years to clean up the spill.

The public prosecutor has opened an investigation for environmental pollution against the refinery.

It said the owners could face a fine of up to $34.5 million.

“The State will be inflexible,” warned Environment Minister Ruben Ramirez.

Tine van den Wall Bake Rodriguez, Repsol Peru’s spokeswoman, said “we cannot say who is responsible” for the oil spill, which the company has blamed on the freak waves.

“We are extremely affected” by it, she added.

The Pampilla refinery has the capacity to process 117,000 barrels a day, which represents more than half of Peru’s total oil output.

Rains Cause Flood Damage In Peru's Machu Picchu

By AFP News
01/21/22 

Strong rains in the town of Machu Picchu, next to the Inca citadel of the same name that is Peru's top tourist draw, washed away railroads and bridges Friday, officials said.

Flooding of the Alccamayo river interrupted train services, the regional government of Cusco department said.

Houses near the river were flooded, and one person was injured with another missing, civil defense officials said.

Some 447,800 people visited the Inca citadel of Machu Picchu in 2021, a figure reduced by the pandemic and far lower than the usual 1.5 million per year 

Photo: AFP / ERNESTO BENAVIDES

Peru Rail company, one of two that provides transport in the region, said in a statement that trains have been cancelled until further notice.

Some 447,800 people visited the Machu Picchu site in 2021, a figure reduced by the pandemic and far lower than the usual 1.5 million per year.

Peru's economy declined 11.12 percent in 2020 and was in recession until June last year, with tourism the hardest-hit sector with a decline of more than 50 percent.

Dozens killed in Saudi-led coalition air raid on Yemen prison

At least 70 people killed in air raid on prison in northern city of Saada, and dozens of others wounded.

This image grab from a handout video made available by the Ansarullah Media centre shows destruction at a prison in the Houthi rebel stronghold of Saada in northern Yemen after it was hit in an air raid [Ansarullah media center via AFP]
Published On 21 Jan 202221 Jan 2022


Dozens of people have been killed in an air raid on a prison in northern Yemen, a Houthi official and medical charity Doctors Without Borders (Medecins Sans Frontieres, or MSF) have said, after a night of deadly bombing underlined a dramatic escalation in violence in the country’s long-running conflict.

A Saudi-led military coalition has intensified attacks on what it has said are military targets linked to the Houthi rebel movement, after the Houthis conducted an unprecedented assault on coalition member the United Arab Emirates on Monday and launched missiles and drones at Saudi cities.

Footage released by the Houthis on Friday showed rescue workers pulling bodies from out of the rubble, following the dawn raid on the temporary detention centre in Saada.

Taha al-Motawakel, health minister in the Houthi government, which controls the country’s north, told The Associated Press news agency that 70 detainees were killed at the prison. He said the death toll was expected to rise since many of the wounded were seriously hurt.

An MSF spokesperson told the AFP news agency at least 70 people were killed and 138 others were wounded in the attack.

The figures came from one hospital in Saada, the spokesperson said, adding, “Two others in the city have received many wounded as well and the rubble is still being searched.”

Further south in the key port city of Hodeidah, video released by the Houthis showed bodies in the rubble and dazed survivors after an overnight air attack carried out by the Saudi-led coalition took out a telecommunications hub. Yemen suffered a nationwide internet blackout, a web monitor said.

NetBlocks said the internet disruption began around 1am local time (22:00 GMT on Thursday) and affected TeleYemen, the state-owned monopoly that controls internet access in the country.

We can’t reach out to any of our beloved ones in Yemen after #saudi/#UAE airstrikes hit the Telecom company in #hudaidah. This is concerning as air strikes have intensified during the last days targeting civilians incl. children in #Sanaa #hudadah
— Sarah Alareqi-سارة العريقي (@SarahAreqi) January 21, 2022

The San Diego-based Center for Applied Internet Data Analysis and San Francisco-based internet firm CloudFlare also noted a nationwide outage affecting Yemen beginning around the same time.

More than 12 hours later, the internet remained down. The Norwegian Refugee Council condemned the attack as “a blatant attack on civilian infrastructure that will also impact our aid delivery.”

According to the UK-based charity Save the Children, at least three children were killed in the Hodeidah air raid.

“The children were reportedly playing on a nearby football field when missiles struck the port town of Hodeidah,” it said in a statement.

The organisation said at least 60 people were killed in the air raid in Saada and more than 100 others wounded, most of them migrants, it added.

“The initial casualties report from Saada is horrifying,” Gillian Moyes, Save the Children’s country director in Yemen, said in a statement.

“Migrants seeking better lives for themselves and their families, Yemeni civilians injured by the dozens is a picture we never hoped to wake up to in Yemen.”.

The Saudi-led military coalition said the reports would be fully investigated.

“We take this report very seriously and it will be fully investigated as all reports of this nature are, using an internationally approved, independent process. Whilst this is ongoing, it would be inappropriate to comment further,” said coalition spokesman Brigadier-General Turki al-Malki.

The attacks on Yemen were also condemned by United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

In a statement, the UN said Guterres “reminds all parties that attacks directed against civilians and civilian infrastructure are prohibited by international humanitarian law”.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken also call for calm.

“The escalation in fighting only exacerbates a dire humanitarian crisis and the suffering of the Yemeni people,” he said in a statement released by the State Department on Friday.

Escalation

Al Jazeera’s Mohammed al-Attab, reporting from the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, said thousands of Houthi supporters took to the streets in Sanaa and other cities across Yemen to condemn the air raids.

The air raids came five days after the Houthis claimed a drone-and-missile attack on the United Arab Emirates that killed three people and prompted warnings of reprisals.

According to Save the Children, the escalation of the conflict resulted in a 60 percent increase in civilian casualties in the last three months of 2021, with 2022 already poised to have wider consequences for civilians.

The United Nations Security Council was due to meet at 15:00 GMT on Friday in an emergency session on the Houthi attacks against the UAE, at the request of the Gulf state, which has occupied one of the non-permanent seats on the council since January 1.

A statement released by the UN body before the meeting condemned the latest attacks in Yemen.

“We are very concerned… It’s not acceptable,” Mona Juul, the Norwegian ambassador to the UN, said.

Juul called for “de-escalation and restraint” in the conflict, and also condemned the deadly attacks on Abu Dhabi earlier this week claimed by the Houthis as “heinous terrorist attacks” and called for the perpetrators to be brought to justice.

The UAE is part of the Saudi-led coalition that has been fighting the rebels since 2015, in an intractable conflict that has displaced millions of Yemenis and left them on the brink of famine.

The coalition said it carried out air raids in Hodeidah, a lifeline port for the shattered country, but did not say it had carried out any raids on Saada.

Saudi Arabia’s state news agency said the coalition carried out “precision air strikes … to destroy the capabilities of the Houthi militia in Hodeidah”.

Yemen’s civil war began in 2014 when the Houthis overran the capital Sanaa, prompting Saudi-led forces to intervene to prop up the government the following year.

Tensions have soared in recent weeks after the UAE-backed Giants Brigade drove the rebels out of Shabwa province, undermining their months-long campaign to take the key city of Marib further north.

On January 3, the Houthis hijacked a United Arab Emirates-flagged ship in the Red Sea, prompting a warning from the coalition that it would target rebel-held ports.

The ship’s 11 international crew members are being held captive.

And on Monday, they claimed a long-range attack that struck oil facilities and the airport in the UAE capital Abu Dhabi, killing two Indians and a Pakistani, and wounding six other people.

The attack – the first deadly assault acknowledged by the UAE inside its borders and claimed by the Houthis – opened up a new front in Yemen’s war and sent regional tensions soaring.

In retaliation, the coalition carried out air raids against rebel-held Sanaa that killed 14 people.

The UN has estimated the war killed 377,000 people by the end of 2021, both directly and indirectly through hunger and disease.

UAE presidential adviser Anwar Gargash warned the country would exercise its right to defend itself after the Abu Dhabi attack.

“The Emirates have the legal and moral right to defend their lands, population and sovereignty, and will exercise this right to defend themselves and prevent terrorist acts pursued by the Houthi group,” he told US special envoy Hans Grundberg, according to the official WAM news agency.

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES

EU nations quarrel over whether nuclear, gas are 'green'

AFP - 


© SEBASTIEN BERDA


Hours before the window for lodging objections closes, EU environment and energy ministers meeting in France Friday differed sharply on a European Commission provision that would classify nuclear and natural gas energy as "sustainable".

The controversy pits countries led by France -- where nuclear generates a world-leading 70 percent of electricity -- against Germany, Austria and others in the 27-nation bloc.

Debate over the Commission's so-called "taxonomy" is not on the agenda of the informal, three-day talks in Amiens, but flared nonetheless.

In late December the European Commission unveiled a classification labelling investment in nuclear gas-based energy as sustainable, in order to favour sectors that reduce the greenhouse gas emissions driving global warming.

Nuclear power is carbon-free, and gas is significantly less polluting than coal.

Countries in the European Union had until midnight Friday to suggest modifications.

After that, the Commission -- taking these suggestions into account -- must "rapidly" publish a final text that will be definitely adopted four months later.

Passage in its current form seems more than likely: it would take a majority of deputies in the EU parliament or 20 of the 27 members states to derail it, and critical mass is lacking in both cases.

A letter to the executive European Commission from some European Parliament deputies protesting that the period for suggesting changes was too short has fallen on deaf ears.

And among EU member states, a dozen have backed France's position and the Commission's proposed taxonomy.

Many are central European nations looking to switch from carbon-intensive coal-fired power to natural gas.

"Nuclear is a decarbonised energy," French environment minister Barbara Pompili told journalists in Amiens.

"We cannot deprive ourselves of it at the same time that we need to very rapidly reduce our carbon emissions."

- 'A very bad signal' -

Despite the strong headwinds, anti-nuclear resistance has not subsided.

"It is neither sustainable nor economic", countered Germany environment minister Stefan Tidow. "It is not a green energy."

Luxembourg and Austria have gone even further, threatening to take the case to court if nuclear is certified as sustainable, citing the risk of accidents and the as-yet unresolved problem of nuclear waste.

"It would be greenwashing," Luxembourg's environment minister, Carole Dieschbourg, told AFP.

"And it would send a very bad signal: it is not a transition energy, it takes too long," she added, alluding to the lag time for building nuclear reactors.

Her Austrian counterpart, Leonore Gewessler, said labelling nuclear power as sustainable will "undermine the credibility of the taxonomy" because it does not fulfil the legal criterion of "not causing damage to the environment".

The EU Commission has proposed a measure requiring financial products to specify what percentage of the activities financed involve nuclear energy, a transparency measure that would allow investors to steer clear if they wanted to.

Berlin has expressed reservations about joining Vienna and Luxembourg in a legal challenge.

"For now, we're working on our response, and when the Commission presents a new text we'll analyse it from a legal standpoint," said Germany state secretary for economic affairs and climate action Sven Giegold.

Austria has also objected to tagging gas as sustainable, with The Netherlands -- which backs the label for nuclear energy -- arguing "there is no scientific reason to include" gas.

Polish undersecretary of state for the environment Adam Guibourge-Czetwertynski disagreed.

"Gas replacing coal because there's nothing better in the short term, that makes sense," he said.

mh/lc

Canadian foreign minister’s Ukraine visit underscores Ottawa’s backing for US-led war drive against Russia

Roger Jordan
WSWS.ORG

Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly’s two-day trip to Ukraine this week underlined Ottawa’s full-throated support for the US-led imperialist war drive against Russia. Unlike most of the imperialist political leaders descending on Kiev in recent days, Joly went out of her way to proclaim her country’s support for Ukraine’s prospective NATO membership, a move that would be interpreted by Moscow as akin to an open declaration of war.

Canadian Armed Forces personnel training Ukrainian troops (CAF-Operation Unifier)

Asked by Radio Canada what her message would be to Ukrainian government officials, Joly replied, “I [will] tell them that first of all, Canada’s position has not changed. We believe that Ukraine should be able to join NATO.” She added that her visit was aimed at showing the Trudeau Liberal government’s “unwavering solidarity” with Ukraine’s far-right, pro-western regime, which idolizes Nazi collaborators like Stepan Bandera and has integrated fascist militias into its armed forces.

Joly’s incendiary remarks give the lie to the claim, incessantly repeated in the mainstream media, that the crisis in Ukraine has been produced by “Russian aggression.” The reality is that in the thirty years since the Stalinist bureaucracy dissolved the Soviet Union and reintroduced capitalism, the imperialist powers have vastly expanded their influence throughout Eastern Europe and encircled Russia militarily. NATO’s territory has moved 800 miles eastward, and the US-led military alliance now has troops positioned in the Baltic republics on Russia’s border. Russian President Vladimir Putin has declared that Ukraine’s membership of NATO is a “red line.”

The provocative character of Joly’s demand that Ukraine be made a NATO member becomes even clearer when one considers the character of Ukraine’s ruling elite. Riven by the internal conflicts within Ukraine’s fabulously wealthy and corrupt oligarchy, and widely despised by the country’s impoverished population, President Volodymyr Zelensky’s government is a crisis-ridden and extremely unstable regime. The same day Joly touched down in Kiev, former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko returned to the country to face charges of sedition for sanctioning, while president, the purchase of coal from pro-Russian separatists in the east of the country.

The danger that Kiev, emboldened by the backing it has received from Washington, Ottawa, and the European imperialist powers, could launch a reckless attack on Russia to divert attention from social and political turmoil is real and growing. If this scenario occurred with Ukraine as a NATO member, the Canadian, US, and European militaries would be obligated under the alliance’s collective defence rules to come to Kiev’s military support, triggering a conflagration between nuclear-armed powers that would put the very survival of humanity on the line.

Joly made clear that Canada would provide the right-wing Kiev regime with hundreds of millions of dollars in loans. Noting that Canada has already provided Ukraine with $245 million in loans since 2014 as well as hundreds of millions in foreign aid, Joly left little doubt that the new financial package would be used to strengthen Ukraine’s readiness for war. “We are ready to … offer financial resources to Ukraine because we know that the Russian threat creates a form of economic instability, and that has an impact on state revenue and the ability of the Ukrainian government to finance its approach.”

Contrary to the bogus propaganda about Canada financing “democracy” and “judicial reform” in Ukraine, the “approach” of Kiev over recent years obliquely referred to by Joly has been to whip up virulent anti-Russian nationalism and integrate fascistic militias into its police and security forces. A study by George Washington University last year revealed that Canadian and US military personnel were training members of the fascist “Centuria” group at Ukraine’s National Army Academy, a military school for future army officers. Centuria functions as a faction of the neo-Nazi Azov Battalion, with which Canadian officials held a direct meeting in 2018. (See: Canadian Armed Forces providing military training to Ukrainian neo-Nazis)

After backing the fascist-spearheaded coup in Kiev in 2014, which overthrew the elected pro-Russian president, Viktor Yanukovych, and brought a pro-Western government to power, Canada sent 200 troops to Ukraine to train its armed forces. Joly made it abundantly clear during her trip that this deployment, scheduled to expire in March, will be extended.

A report in yesterday’s Globe and Mail confirmed that the Trudeau government plans to announce an extension of the deployment for at least six months next week and could expand the number of Canadian Armed Forces’ personnel involved. The warship HMCS Montreal has already been deployed to join NATO’s provocative military operations in the Black Sea. Ottawa is also considering sending small arms, night-vision goggles, military radios, and armoured vests to the Ukrainian military. The Canadian Security Establishment, a key player in the US-led “Five Eyes” global spying network, could also begin supplying Kiev with intelligence and cyber-security support. The Globe noted that Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland, an anti-Russia hawk whose grandfather, Michael Chomiak, edited a pro-Nazi Ukrainian nationalist newspaper during World War II, is heavily involved in the deliberations over additional Canadian support for Kiev. So too, is Canadian Armed Forces’ head Wayne Eyre.

Trudeau is in talks with the US and Britain, which announced it would send anti-tank missiles to Kiev earlier this week, on a package of economic sanctions against Russia that US President Joe Biden described Wednesday as “punishing.” Turning reality on its head, Trudeau told a press briefing, “We are working with our international partners and colleagues to make it very, very clear that Russian aggression is absolutely unacceptable.”

During Joly’s trip, media reports confirmed that a group of Canadian Special Forces troops was recently dispatched to Ukraine.

In another provocative move, the Canadian Commercial Corporation, a crown corporation that supports Canadian firms in securing foreign government contracts, announced last week it plans to back the construction of an ammunition factory in Ukraine. The facility, which would be operated by several Ontario-based firms, would manufacture small arms, and be supported by $60 million in government funds.

Canada’s fulsome support for Kiev reflects its determination to strengthen its eight decade-long military-strategic partnership with Washington, which is leading the charge of the imperialist powers towards war with Russia. But it would be wrong to see Canada as simply playing a supporting role to US imperialism’s insane drive to retain its global hegemony. Ottawa has its own imperialist interests at stake, including its close ties to far-right regimes in Ukraine and the Baltic republics.

The Canadian ruling elite is also determined to push back Russian influence in the Arctic, which is assuming growing geostrategic and economic significance due to climate change. Last August, Trudeau reached an agreement with the Biden administration to modernize NORAD, the Canada-US North American aerospace and maritime defence command, to the tune of tens of billions of dollars. A key objective of the modernization is to strengthen North American continental military capabilities to counter so-called “over the horizon threats” so as to wage a “winnable” nuclear war against Russia or China.

The drumbeat for war with Russia is coming from all sides within the Canadian political establishment. Media reports on an almost daily basis contain lurid claims about an “imminent” or “looming” Russian “invasion.” The only “evidence” ever provided to back up these assertions is that Russia has carried out troop movements on its own sovereign territory. This war-mongering propaganda is accompanied by the never-ending media campaign against China.

The establishment parties unanimously endorse the anti-Russian course. In a statement released on the eve of Joly’s Kiev trip, Conservative leader Erin O’Toole demanded that Trudeau reject “capitulation to President Putin’s aggression.” He urged the government to adopt “Magnitsky sanctions against those responsible for Russian aggression” and “provide Ukraine with lethal defensive weapons.”

New Democratic Party leader Jagmeet Singh demanded targeted sanctions against Russia. NDP foreign affairs spokesperson Heather McPherson suggested her party would be prepared to support sending weapons to the Ukraine at a future date but called for more diplomatic efforts to be tried first. “I don’t think this is the time to be giving arms to the Ukraine,” she commented. The NDP has consistently backed Canada’s military deployment to Ukraine and strongly endorsed Joly’s visit to Ukraine this week. “I am very happy that Minister Joly has taken it upon herself to go to Ukraine at this time,” said McPherson. “It is absolutely vital that Canada do everything (it) can to work to deter Russia.”